RADCLIFFE Athletic Club's new junior section had its first outing when they joined the seniors at the Red Rose Cross Country League event at Leigh Sports Village on Saturday.

Harry Andrew, Fleur Carter, Niamh and Ewan Warr, Adam McWilliams and Jude and Isabelle Hockenhull took part in various age groups.

The junior section meets between 7pm and 8pm every Tuesday and Thursday at Riverside School in Radcliffe, with new members always welcomed.

The women's team enjoyed Red Rose success, finishing fifth overall and second in the veterans category.

Donna Cartwright was their first finisher on a tough, muddy course, finishing 12th out of 95 and second V40. Fiona Lynch (V40) was not far behind in 20th place, with Katie Percival their third counter in 25th.

Jenny Yates also ran well, finishing 36th and third V50.

A total of 15 men took part for Radcliffe, with Ian Warrington first home for the club in 55th place out of 170.

Chris Paxton was 62nd and Rob Lister (V50) next in as the final counter for the team, which finished 11th.

Warrington doubled up to finished the first of 11 Radcliffe runners in the Manchester Half Marathon, which was run in Trafford on Sunday.

Billed as the "fastest and flattest course around", Warrington managed a fine time of 1hr 27mins 32secs.

Sheila Jones clocked 1:51:51 to finish second V60, while Paula Abernethy was third V50 in 1:41:11.

Other finishers: Mark Williams (V50) 1:32:38, Dave Rushton (V50) 1:39:43, Nick Barnes 1:46:53, Michael Gilmore (V40) 1:47:04, Chris Fletcher 1:50:06, Chris Fletcher 1:50:06, Kathryn McPrince (V40) 2:21:22, Bev McGrath (V50) 2:23:57 and Gail Champion (V40) 2:25:11.

Radcliffe took three runners up to the Lake District at the weekend, with two of them doubling up to run both days.

Lisa Carter and Mauro Rotondi ran the Helvellyn 15km trail race on Saturday and the Ullswater 12km race on Sunday.

Rotondi posted 1:15:00 in the Saturday event, which went round the foothills of Helvellyn, and Carter clocked 1:31:20.

The following day, Rotondi clocked 1:09:00 and Carter 1:26:54 in the Ullswater race, which was due to be 14km but had to be shortened due to high winds.

Michelle Hincks joined the pair in Ullswater, finishing the course in 1:35:00.

In the Barrow Bridge 5k at Bolton, Kate Holden (V40) was first home for Radcliffe in 23:29, followed by Kirsten Cook (V55) 27:10 and V65 Iain Harris 29:16.

Eileen Sharman (V60) was the oldest woman competitor in the tough 13-mile Hell Runner at Delamere Forest, while Andy Wheeler (V60) took part in the 10k Reaper obstacle course near Coventry, wading through mud and water and finishing in around two hours.